Numerous reports are coming in about a Malaysian passenger jet that has gone down east of Donetsk, Ukraine.  This is the region of Ukraine that has seen low-level conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.  Several military aircraft have been downed by the separatists, and the Ukrainian government claims that the separatists shot down this airliner as well.

What we know is that the plane was about to cross into Russian airspace when it went down, and was traveling close to 33,000 feet up.  A Surface to Air Missile (SAM) that can hit a target at that altitude is a serious piece of hardware, and requires trained crew and support personnel.  This isn’t a shoulder-fired piece of lawn tubing with a heat-seeking rocket in the back end, rather it’s, at least, a large tracked vehicle with a radar dish and launcher.  This means that, if the plane was indeed shot down, someone is supplying the separatists with up-to-date hardware and expertise.

But what does a shoot-down of an airliner owned by a third country mean to us?  It’s a tragedy, accident or incident, and I hope you join me in keeping the families of the casualties in our thoughts and prayers.  But is it something that is the business of the United States?  Let’s say the worst case scenario is true, and the Russians provided the equipment that did this, or worse, manned the hardware themselves.  Does it impact our policy and our interests?

I say that it doesn’t.  Yes, if the plane was shot down, then it’s a despicable act and possibly a war crime.  But it’s none of our business.   We’re lucky if we can get our populace and government ‘leadership’ to concentrate on their juice boxes so as to not poke holes in their soft palate.  Diverting their attention away from the economy, our own security, and whatever else they ought to be doing isn’t going to help anyone.

This isn’t our circus, and those certainly aren’t our monkeys.  Let Malaysia, Ukraine, and Russia hash this out.  We have other things that need our time and attention.

Update – In From the Cold has an excellent post up with more details.